Macro Photography Tips Part 1

macro photography or micro photography's it's also becoming known as these days is all about getting in close now if I'm going to take a picture of this flower here which to be honest I can't even focus on with my eyes because I've turned into such an old git I'm going to need to get very close indeed enter the macro lens okay close you can just get into things like that's absolutely gorgeous Abbey's eye view of a Daisy I've just seen that shot of me in the back of the video camera I've come to the conclusion on any Botox or something now macro lens is their main characteristic is that they can focus in close and get all the wrinkles and things some of you might have a zoom lens which has a macro facility now this one on the end here we've got a little orange bit with an M that is its macro range now it's not really a macro lens it just means that it can focus fairly close if you want to get right into macro you do need something a bit more than this let's dump that on the lawn down there bit Cavalier with my kit a macro lens will let you do that this will focus down to an astonishingly tiny Oh crumbs where is it there it is feet feet feet feet feet it's about five inches six inches that's how close I can get and still focus with this lens but you couldn't do that with a normal lens could you now when you're getting close to something your depth of field starts to shrink that's a characteristic of all lenses the closer you are to the place you're focusing the shallower your depth of field becomes so that gives you something to watch out for human beings we move don't we little tiny movements can move the point of focus backwards and forwards with us so it can be tricky to focus on something if you're doing macro handheld back there are you using my elbows as a little tripod to keep the camera steady these poppies there's a few little drops of water going on in the top here so let's have a look and see how we get on now as I get closer and closer and closer focus up the camera that's a nice shot actually so I'll take it but as I get closer and closer it's actually quite hard for me to hold that still because as unbreathing and talking I'm moving up and down just a tiny tiny little bit so retie my focus and then I move my shot goes out of focus tripod time I know I bang on about tripods all the time but this is why it's because they're brilliant they let you take pictures that you just wouldn't be able to take unless you had one so we're now eliminating my movement to do the shot let's just see what we can do and there around there that's quite nice you can get a little bit closer drop that down a bit here we go and focus and ah ah the autofocus missed it there it goes that's really quite a nice shot isn't it just then the breeze dropped the flower wasn't moving look at it now quickly there's a little bit of a breeze going on and the flowers moving that is another enemy of the macro photographer if you're going to do flowers and plants they jiggle and wobble around so now my camera is nice and still but the flowers moving this is just something to bear in mind if you want to go out and do some nature photography on a breezy day it might not be your best time if you want to shoot flowers like these but there is a way around it and I'll going to come to that in a moment another thing to look for with macro is light right now we've got an overcast sky if you're photographing something fairly delicate soft delicate light such as you get from an overcast sky is the best way of going about it the light is still directional it's coming from over there although it's very very soft and very very subtle now there's something I forgot to get out of my back so watch me run and that is a reflector now reflectors are brilliant things you don't need a very special reflector because with macro everything's on a macro scale isn't it it's really really small this is my trusty gray card which you may have seen in other films but on the inside it's white you can use this as a reflector to kind of let's see if we can do it janie see if you can get fairly close to this now if you can see as I bring that alongside here can you see the light changing on the top of this little flare it's a very subtle difference you see that going on she's shaking her head it makes our best-laid plans we'll go and use this inside because that's where I want to go next you know I said if you've got a breezy Dane you got some plants and things wobbling around well you can either pick the top up I'm not going to because it's not my flower and take it indoors because there isn't a breeze but because macro is a whole new realm almost anything you photograph could be exciting I'm going to kick

I have always loved Mike's videos. He explains everything with so much clarity and simplicity. The video reminded me of this blog I read by this photographer on his love for macro photography – https://shivendralal.com/2018/07/29/immersing-into-a-tiny-world/ . I guess passion for anything shows in what you say and how you say it.

Hi Mike, I'm a fan of photography so I'm thinking about of taking a picture of blood super moon coming on 27th July which it will be coming in 3 Days and so I'm preparing for it any way just subscribed to you Mike so u can give me advice of more of awesome photography 🙂

For those who cannot afford themselves this equipment, it is possible to buy macro lens for smartphones. It is very cheap and the images are excellent !!! I found this, take a look if you want : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wd0F2jEgpA